And so, DDS concieves a plan to bring down their arch nemesis. What kind of chaos will ensue while Class Q and Class A split up, as Nanami and Hongou search the headquarters for the Pluto leader, Anubis?
Read on.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q.
Chapter 9: On the Run
As Class A bolted down a random hallway, Class Q looked at one another expectantly.
"So where do we start?" asked Kyu, turning to Kazuma.
"Well, like I said, most of the Pluto technology and headquarters is underneath this old heap, so we have to get to lower ground," said Kazuma. "We have to find a way down there. I'm positive that we can knock out the main power source directly."
"There has to be some kind of secret passageway somewhere around here," said Meg.
"Then we'd better start looking," said Ryuu, turning around to observe the place they were currently in.
They seemed to be on the ground floor, for now. The corridor they were in was quite deserted, but somewhere around the end of it seemed to have a weird aura. Trouble loomed ahead.
"I don't like the looks of this place too much," said Meg.
"We always seem to keep going to places where we feel uncomfortable with," muttered Shizuko.
"Maybe we have to go that way," said Kazuma, pointing to the end of the hall.
"And I rest my case," said Shizuko. "That direction is the one we're all most uncomfortable about."
"Any Pluto members'll have to answer to me," said Kinta, cracking his knuckles.
Kyu grinned. "Let's just go."
They walked—or rather, sprinted—noiselessly down the hall…
"Oh, shoot," said Shizuko softly as they reached the end of it.
About a dozen Pluto members stood in front of them.
"Here we go again!" cried Kyu as the rest of them bolted down the rest of the hallway.
"Get them!" yelled the leading Pluto member.
"I thought you were going to handle it, Kinta!" said Kazuma.
"I would if we weren't bolting down this corridor for our lives!" cried Kinta.
"There's an intersection up ahead!" said Ryuu.
Three more corridors led away from the one they were running in.
"Split up!" cried Shizuko. "Just choose a hall and run for it!"
Kinta and Kazuma, for no apparent reason, kept going forward.
Kyu took a sharp turn to the right, and Meg followed.
Shizuko, gritting her teeth, changed direction and swung to the left.
Ryuu swiftly veered to his left.
Kyu and Meg were running through the same corridor, with four Pluto members somewhere behind them.
"We need to lose them somehow," said Kyu.
"Do you see them behind us?" asked Meg.
"No, not yet," said Kyu.
Kyu spotted a niche somewhere in front of them. Running ahead, he slipped into it, and pulled Meg along with him.
Meg seemed panicked for a moment, but breathed a sigh of relief when the Pluto members ran past them, not noticing that they were just in a deep recess along the hall.
Kyu was breathing heavily from all their running. "Are they gone?"
"Uh-huh," said Meg.
Kyu took a closer look at the niche they were in.
It turned out not to be a niche at all. It was just the upper landing to a set of stairs, leading downward into darkness.
Meg noticed his stare. "It's like the secret door all over again," she remarked.
Kyu grinned. "Do you want to go down there? Kazuma did say that everything was somewhere in a lower level…"
Meg swallowed nervously. "Do we have to?"
"Oh, come on, Meg, it's not like we've done worse things than this," said Kyu.
Meg sighed in exasperation. "All right."
Kyu began walking down the stairs, pressing his hand to the wall for support. Meg gulped again and followed him.
Darkness surrounded them. Meg couldn't see her own hand when she attempted to wave it in front of her face.
Worse. She couldn't even see Kyu!
She began to worry.
"Kyu?" she said tentatively.
"Yeah?" his voice came from somewhere a bit further ahead.
"Where are you? I can't see anything," she said.
"Stretch out your hand," Kyu called.
Meg reached into the shadows. Her fingers brushed against another's, and then their hands met.
"Is that you, Kyu?" she asked.
"Yep, it's me," Kyu grinned.
She continued to hold on to his hand all the way down the stairs. Somehow, it gave her a very strange feeling of comfort, being there with Kyu.
Here we are again, she thought. It's just like when he held on to my hand in that secret room. How can he hold a girl's hand and act like it's nothing?
She felt a blush forming on her cheeks at her next thought. How does he really think of me?
Ryuu and Shizuko, meanwhile, ran down the hall, once in a while overtaking each other.
"How do we lose these guys?" she demanded of him.
"I don't know!" Ryuu replied.
She seemed exasperated and annoyed at the same time. "After all that drama about your being a part—"
Ryuu glared at her.
"—former part of Pluto," she corrected hastily, "You have no idea how to get rid of these losers?"
"It's not like my grandfather actually had a chance to pass on the influence," said Ryuu.
"O-kay," said Shizuko. "Ever been in this place before?"
"It's familiar," said Ryuu. "I feel like I've been here, a long time ago."
"Anything you remember that'll help us?" Shizuko asked desperately.
Ryuu swung his hair away from his face and began thinking.
"Hurry..." she said in a worried tone, looking behind them.
Something like a light went on in Ryuu's eyes. "Down here, quick," he said, pulling her by the arm.
"Down where—Whoa!"
Ryuu had pushed back a tapestry, revealing a kind of secret passageway.
Only it wasn't really a passageway where you could walk carefully, oh no. It sloped dangerously downward, creating a kind of slide.
"Ryuu!" she said, out of shock.
"What, you wanted a way out, didn't you?" said Ryuu coolly.
Ryuu landed at the end of their slide feet first. He stepped away quickly as Shizuko finished her fall, feet first as well, although she landed with much less grace than he did.
It took nearly all of Shizuko's self control to keep from glaring at Ryuu at that moment; he looked like he was going to snicker.
"What is this place?" she asked, brushing herself off.
"One of the more interesting places in this house," remarked Ryuu.
Shizuko's eyes widened at the sight in front of them.
Meg was startled. Kyu had stopped.
"What is it, Kyu?" she asked.
"There's a door here," he answered.
"Is it open?" Meg asked.
Kyu fiddled with the doorknob, and it turned. "I guess it is," he said, surprised.
A hazy sort of light illuminated the room they were entering. Meg squinted slightly, then her eyes widened as she recognized what exactly she was staring at.
"Kyu…." She said, amazed.
"What?" he asked, slightly puzzled.
"It's…it's a maze," said Meg in awe.
Shizuko stared at the sight in front of her, and then back at Ryuu. "Is it…?" she left the sentence unfinished.
Ryuu nodded, all seriousness. "Yes."
"It's a maze."
Rants: I feel that this chapter is too short. how frustrating.
More action in the next chapter, and it'll probably be a little longer….
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